Living Life, for Dummies
If I want to get somewhere, I look at a map. Left to my own devices, I would never get to where I was going. Or, I would get there eventually, but long after my reason for being there had expired.
If I want to learn how to spell something, I consult dictionary.com. Actually, no, that’s not true. I keep trying to spell it repeatedly until spell check can recognize what I’m trying to spell and can advise me accordingly. If I cannot come close enough to where spell check can guess what I’m trying to spell, then I consult dictionary.com.
If I want to learn how to fix something, I refer to one of the books I have, I check out DIY network, or I ask the good folks at the local hardware store.
For biology, there are biology books, for chemistry, chemistry books. For the latter, they even have these nifty 3-d models that will help. For astrophysics, there are books, videos, lectures, etc, etc, etc. For math, there’s my good friend the abacus.
Of the above, I have use for some and no use for others. But should the need ever arise, I know just where to look for the information I need. Of course, for all of the above and pretty much everything else, there’s google.
But then there’s life, about which answers are not easy to find.
When I took summer courses in London after my first year of law school, I really hit it off with one of my professors. He was an Irish fellow, who, like me, was raised with a Catholic education for the better part of his life. Unlike me, he ended up signing up to be a priest. However, after a few years, he decided to drop out after he affirmatively concluded that God did not exist. Bummer, talk about a bad career choice! The story of a choir boy turned atheistic ethicist was fascinating to me. European professors are incredibly approachable, and after class he was happy to skip over to the local pub or coffee shop and discuss whatever was on my mind. We tended to talk about how he ended up being an atheist, Mill’s Harm Principle, and the Golden Rule. It was a relationship that, in my mind at least, harkened back to Ancient Greece. He was my Plato, and I was his Aristotle – his prize student, who ended up disagreeing with everything he said, but who valued their experience together nonetheless. But our time was short and on the last day of class, I asked for something to help me continue my quest back stateside.
Me: “Hey, I was wondering if you could recommend a book for me.”
Prof: “I can try. Do you have some particular topic in mind?”
Me: “Yeah, it would be book on ethics, one that functions as something of a how to manual.”
Prof: “What does that mean?”
Me: “Well, if ethics is the study of how man ought to conduct himself, has anyone written a treatise on how exactly the ideal man would do so and what steps one might take to actualize that ideal? It’s something idealistic but practical, too. It’s something that would give you guidance when you were stuck or explain how to fix something when it broke. You know, reference material for life.”
Prof: “I can’t say that I’ve ever come across the type of book you’re talking about. If you want to read such a book, you’ll have to write it first.”
Of this fact, and this fact alone, I am sure: before this book is complete, I will be dead; my failure is the only inevitability. I should have started 2,000 years ago. Let’s begin, shall we?
If I want to learn how to spell something, I consult dictionary.com. Actually, no, that’s not true. I keep trying to spell it repeatedly until spell check can recognize what I’m trying to spell and can advise me accordingly. If I cannot come close enough to where spell check can guess what I’m trying to spell, then I consult dictionary.com.
If I want to learn how to fix something, I refer to one of the books I have, I check out DIY network, or I ask the good folks at the local hardware store.
For biology, there are biology books, for chemistry, chemistry books. For the latter, they even have these nifty 3-d models that will help. For astrophysics, there are books, videos, lectures, etc, etc, etc. For math, there’s my good friend the abacus.
Of the above, I have use for some and no use for others. But should the need ever arise, I know just where to look for the information I need. Of course, for all of the above and pretty much everything else, there’s google.
But then there’s life, about which answers are not easy to find.
When I took summer courses in London after my first year of law school, I really hit it off with one of my professors. He was an Irish fellow, who, like me, was raised with a Catholic education for the better part of his life. Unlike me, he ended up signing up to be a priest. However, after a few years, he decided to drop out after he affirmatively concluded that God did not exist. Bummer, talk about a bad career choice! The story of a choir boy turned atheistic ethicist was fascinating to me. European professors are incredibly approachable, and after class he was happy to skip over to the local pub or coffee shop and discuss whatever was on my mind. We tended to talk about how he ended up being an atheist, Mill’s Harm Principle, and the Golden Rule. It was a relationship that, in my mind at least, harkened back to Ancient Greece. He was my Plato, and I was his Aristotle – his prize student, who ended up disagreeing with everything he said, but who valued their experience together nonetheless. But our time was short and on the last day of class, I asked for something to help me continue my quest back stateside.
Me: “Hey, I was wondering if you could recommend a book for me.”
Prof: “I can try. Do you have some particular topic in mind?”
Me: “Yeah, it would be book on ethics, one that functions as something of a how to manual.”
Prof: “What does that mean?”
Me: “Well, if ethics is the study of how man ought to conduct himself, has anyone written a treatise on how exactly the ideal man would do so and what steps one might take to actualize that ideal? It’s something idealistic but practical, too. It’s something that would give you guidance when you were stuck or explain how to fix something when it broke. You know, reference material for life.”
Prof: “I can’t say that I’ve ever come across the type of book you’re talking about. If you want to read such a book, you’ll have to write it first.”
Of this fact, and this fact alone, I am sure: before this book is complete, I will be dead; my failure is the only inevitability. I should have started 2,000 years ago. Let’s begin, shall we?
posted by Donkey Boy at Monday, January 02, 2006
4 Comments:
I guarantee such a book exists. I'm sure that there are many such books. the problem is the nature of life - none of the books are likely any good, because every situation is different. Sure, everyone needs rules to live by - but who wants to live by someone else's rules?
Not I, said this guy.
Did Plato teach Aristotle? I know Socrates taught Plato, but didn't think that the chain continued.
...at least that's how they taught it back when i was a wee lad. socrates taught plato and plato taught aristotle.
I am writing the book you speak of. It's called my journal. It's the ultimate reality piece. By the time I'm finished there will be many volumes. It is full of rules to live by; that is, if one chooses to follow them. But I like what pave the whales had to say--who wants to live by someone else's rules?
My journal is like the bible in this way: it is not meant to be taken literally and followed step by step. It is meant to portray a number of general lessons: be a good person, do what you think is right, and all will be well. Be true, be honest, try hard, be yourself. Clichéd, I know, but that's the essence of living well, right?
Sorry, this got way too long.
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